Apple was hit with a first-ever antitrust fine of more than 1.8 billion euros ($1.95 billion) by the European Union on Monday for preventing Spotify and other music streaming services from informing users of payment options outside of its App Store.

The European Commission’s decision was triggered by a complaint filed by Swedish music streaming service Spotify in 2019 over the restriction and Apple’s 30% App Store fee.

The EU competition enforcer said Apple’s restrictions amounted to unfair trading conditions, a relatively novel argument in antitrust cases that the Dutch antitrust agency made against Apple in a 2021 case against the dating app provider. This argument was also used in the ruling.

The EU competition enforcement agency said it added a one-time addition of 1.8 billion euros to the basic amount as a deterrent to Apple because a large part of the damage caused by Apple’s actions is non-pecuniary. It did not say what the base amount would be.

“For a decade, Apple has abused its market dominance in distributing music streaming apps through the App Store,” EU antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager said in a statement.

“They do this by restricting developers from informing consumers about alternative, cheaper music services available outside the Apple ecosystem. This is illegal under EU antitrust rules,” she said.

Apple criticized the EU’s decision and said it would challenge it in court.

“This decision was made despite the Commission’s failure to find any credible evidence of consumer harm and ignoring the reality of a booming, competitive and rapidly growing market,” the company said in a statement.

“The main advocate and biggest beneficiary of this decision is Spotify, a company based in Stockholm, Sweden. Spotify owns the world’s largest music streaming app and met with the European Commission more than 65 times during this investigation,” it says.

The Swedish company doesn’t pay Apple a commission because it sells subscriptions on its website rather than Apple’s App Store, it said.

Vestager’s order for Apple to lift restrictions on its App Store echoes the same requirements in new EU tech rules, known as the Digital Markets Act (DMA), which Apple must comply with on March 7.

However, EU regulators have fined Alphabet’s Google 8.25 billion euros in three cases over the past decade, with Apple fined about a quarter.

In contrast to the music streaming case, Apple is seeking to resolve a separate EU antitrust investigation by opening its tap-and-go mobile payments system to rivals.

EU regulators then sought feedback from competitors and users and are likely to accept its proposal without fining the company.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)